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View Poll Results: What are the best and/or your favorite Puccini operas?

He's all right. I'm not a particularly great fan of him myself, but there are people that really, really like him.
But on the whole the singing is very good, especially the Mimí, Marita Sølberg. And the production is really, really great.

I agree with several of the comments so far about Tosca, that it has a kind of harsh appeal. That's why it was one of the three I voted for. Not to mention that I liked the music in it. I didn't find the music too sappy, like some others had told me when we went to see it.

Last edited by Lukecash12; Oct-18-2012 at 13:48.

"Your mathematics are correct, but your physics are abominable..." Einstein

He's all right. I'm not a particularly great fan of him myself, but there are people that really, really like him.
But on the whole the singing is very good, especially the Mimí, Marita Sølberg. And the production is really, really great.

Ok, thanks for the tip. Will check it out again on youtube and then think about buying it if i see it on my travels. Could do with a decent La Boheme.

Anyone else find it peculiar that there was a 20 year gap between the premiere of Madama Butterfly and Turandot? If you knew nothing about Puccini's biography you'd think that La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot were composed in proximate succession as Tristan, Meistersinger, Gotterdammerung, and Parsifal were; but no, it's La Boheme, Tosca, and Butterfly in quick succession and then Turandot decades later.

Anyone else find it peculiar that there was a 20 year gap between the premiere of Madama Butterfly and Turandot? If you knew nothing about Puccini's biography you'd think that La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot were composed in proximate succession as Tristan, Meistersinger, Gotterdammerung, and Parsifal were; but no, it's La Boheme, Tosca, and Butterfly in quick succession and then Turandot decades later.

He did also other operas in that gap. Musically, La Fanciulla it to me superior to Butterfly, and should deserve some love too. The problem is the plot for me.

Also in this gap of 20 years or so, we must consider a few thigs:
-Music was changing fast. After the wagnerian bomb exploded, music went all nuts and old music formulas became obsolete and the audience became more demanding. Debussy, Stravinsky and Schonberg were breaking paths in such velocity that composing music started to seem like a job from hell (Thoma Mann's Doktor Faust describes that feeling)

- More imporantly the world was changing:
1- Communism spread all over the world, abolishing everything that was a reference of the aristocracy. Puccini, even in his quiet place in Torre del Lago, felt this opression by the local people;
2- World War I - One of the most terrible moments in the history, which made a deep impact, not just in opera, as well in everything else.

He did also other operas in that gap. Musically, La Fanciulla it to me superior to Butterfly, and should deserve some love too. The problem is the plot for me.

Also in this gap of 20 years or so, we must consider a few thigs:
-Music was changing fast. After the wagnerian bomb exploded, music went all nuts and old music formulas became obsolete and the audience became more demanding. Debussy, Stravinsky and Schonberg were breaking paths in such velocity that composing music started to seem like a job from hell (Thoma Mann's Doktor Faust describes that feeling)

- More imporantly the world was changing:
1- Communism spread all over the world, abolishing everything that was a reference of the aristocracy. Puccini, even in his quiet place in Torre del Lago, felt this opression by the local people;
2- World War I - One of the most terrible moments in the history, which made a deep impact, not just in opera, as well in everything else.

Damn, i forgot another important thing. If one has read Puccini's biography, one knows that he had a major familiar/private problem which lead to the suicide of one of his housemaindens. It was a scandal, it went to trial and Puccini had lots of problems. This episode had a deep impact in Puccini and had him stopped from composing for a while.